The Energy Committee of Durham’s Letter Supporting Energize 360

To Whom It May Concern:

The Energy Committee of Durham, NH strongly supports the Energize 360 initiative of the Seacoast Regional Energy Hub and its member communities. This campaign seeks to reduce residential energy use and shift energy supply through the generation of clean energy sources throughout the Seacoast. Button Up/Solar Up is a community outreach and educational campaign on the Solarize model with three simple themes of (1) measuring energy usage, (2) reducing consumption and (3) renewing production.

The Energy Committee realizes that energy efficiency is an energy resource that should be available to all homeowners. More than half of the energy used today is wasted. This fact represents an enormous opportunity for achieving savings and maximizing gains in the energy productivity of our economy, while lowering energy costs to our residents, business and municipalities.

With support from the Seacoast Regional Energy Hub and the Durham Energy Committee, this campaign will host energy efficiency and solar workshops, identify qualified vendors, and tap the power of neighbor-to-neighbor marketing.

Over the course of the coming months, and in partnership with local energy efficiency and solar vendors, Energize 360 will be rolling out a program that promises to:

• Raise awareness of energy use among Seacoast residents

• Improve the efficiency of participating homes

• Reduce the dependence of the seacoast on fossil fuels

• Raise funds for social energy projects that spread the benefits of efficiency and solar to under-
represented or otherwise disadvantaged groups.

• Lower the cost of solar energy installations through resident education, building and zone official collaborations, and property tax and real estate policies.

We, the Durham Energy Committee, are supportive of the goals of Energize 360 believe the success of such a program will greatly enhance our efforts to reduce energy costs for our residents while making a positive impact on our quality of life.